Irish Government Moves Into The Digital Age By Treating Everything Like Paper

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the progress,-eh?-not-sure-I'm-familiar-with-that-term... dept

Updating laws for the digital age is hard. Apparently. Maybe it’s just a government problem. After all, an entity that generally moves at the speed of a narcoleptic sloth and with the grace of an ocean liner can’t be expected to turn on a dime and start bureaucratizing like it’s 1999.

The Irish government is currently in the process of updating its Freedom of Information laws, and from the looks of what’s surfaced so far, it’s attempting to legislate itself back to the mid-1970s.

Section 17 (4) (b) in particular contains the following restriction on how much freedom you can expect your information to have.

“[T]he FOI body shall take reasonable steps to search for and extract the records to which the request relates, having due regard to the steps that would be considered reasonable if the records were held in paper format…”

This then is the yardstick by which ‘reasonable’ action shall be based. You only have to do it if it was reasonable if everything was printed out and you had only paper to work with.

Query a database? Sure, it might only take a moment to use the search box. But if I had to print it all out and go through it by hand, that would be an unreasonable demand. So, no.

It’s almost as though someone caught the government inadvertently dragging itself into the digital age and ordered the Efficiency Committee to take a long look at the bill’s wording and see if there wasn’t some excess efficiency that couldn’t be streamlined out.

If this bill passes, FOI requests in Ireland will be treated as if the government is putting its best men (and women) on it, even if it’s really just a bored intern running some surface-level searches. Sure, Ted the lazy but relatively competent, unpaid intern may be able to access the appropriate documents and spit them out of the nearest laser printer in 5-10 minutes, but in doing so, has completely undercut the nearly-universal governmental tendency to add extra steps to processes and racking up amazing amounts of man-hours/woman-hours.

The Irish government is rooted in years of tradition (“rooted” being the key) — as it always was, so shall it always be. This purity will be maintained even if it means carving out alternate realities with creative legislation.

Filed Under: digital, freedom of information, ireland, paper

Amoeba Records Deals With Orphan Works By Pretending It Can Just Digitize & Sell Now, But Pay Later

Copyright

from the not-quite-how-it-works dept

Glenn Fleishman has a typically fantastic post over at BoingBoing in which he discusses how the famed Amoeba Records chain has launched Vinyl Vaults, an online store for digitized music from vinyl records, available exclusively via the store. Amoeba, for those who don’t know, is something of a mecca for music fans. I used to spend hours there buying CDs… until Amazon, CDBaby and the like just made it much easier for me to buy CDs (and eventually MP3s) online. I had no idea, but apparently Amoeba spent six years and $11 million building this online store. That seems like an awful lot. But here’s the thing: it appears that the store is basically one giant case of copyright infringement, as Fleishman describes in detail.

Basically, Amoeba decided that if it couldn’t find the copyright holder, it would just hold money for them in escrow, and be willing to hand it over should they ever come calling. And, while this might seem like a viable plan in a world that made some sense, it’s not what the law allows. At all. Fleishman explores all of the legal nuances (including the fun stuff about how pre-1972 sound recordings are under wacky state copyright laws that have different rules, and won’t go into the public domain for much longer than other works). Here’s a snippet of the piece:

Where does this leave Amoeba? It seems to be standing on the notion that orphaned works are up for grabs so long as you pay out the owners’ cut later when it’s claimed. Orphaned works are creations for which no clear knowledge of ownership exists. But there’s no provision in U.S. law for how to deal with orphaned works of any kind, music or otherwise. A proposal from 2006 was languishing at the Copyright Office, as it requires Congress to take it up (ha) to establish a clear procedure in law.

Go read the whole thing. It’s yet another example of how copyright law makes no sense to most people.

Filed Under: copyright, digital, orphan works, vinyl
Companies: amoeba records

HBO's One Attempt At A Standalone Digital Service Sucks

Failures

from the surprise-surprise dept

In my recent post about the fragmentation of online television, there were a few aspects and details I left out because they seemed worthy of a separate, closer look. One is the oft-forgotten fact that HBO does indeed offer one lonely digital-only subscription service… to customers in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway. That program was announced last year and seemed like a promising step for the notoriously cable-dedicated HBO—but the customer feedback is coming in, and the results are not encouraging:

A list of complaints include HD content is (was?) only available on Samsung Smart TVs, meaning you were only given SD quality when streaming through your computer or any other device. Same goes for surround sound and 5.1, which are only available through the Samsung TV app. Other complaints I’ve heard includes buffering problems with the Widevine plugin (at standard definition), and lack of Apple Airplay support. The product is available as iOS and Android apps, but Xbox and Playstation apps are still said to be under development.

The online UI is nice to look at but was poorly designed; initially HBO only allowed you to search for TV shows by alphabetical letter. The results were underwhelming and exaggerated how little content HBO was offering.

…

It should be noted that you’re not given access to the full back catalogue, several classics are not available such as Deadwood and Oz, which apparently have some copyright restrictions.

Some might claim it’s still a good deal at €9.95/month, considering most people can’t access any of these shows legally without a full cable package. Of course, Netflix only costs €7.99/month in the region, and has a larger selection, which makes the price a little less impressive. Then there’s the fact that HBO initially promised much, much more:

• Every episode of all HBO series available online
• All new episodes available within 24 hours of the US premiere, with local subtitles (dubbing is rare in the Nordics, foreign TV shows and movies are usually subtitled in the local language)
• Works on practically all devices: smartphones, tablets (Android, iOS), computers (Windows, Linux, Mac), video game consoles (PS3, Xbox), Samsung Smart TVs and Blu-ray players, and Sonera IPTV service
• Full HD 1080p picture quality
• Surround sound

Compare that to the list of complaints, and you realize HBO isn’t doing a great job of living up to the expectations it created. Then there’s the other truly insane catch: customers are locked into a 12-month contract, after which they must give 3-month notice for cancellation. Yeah. Moreover, the terms stated that simply logging into the service once waives your ability to cancel it because you’re not satisfied (despite using the service being the only way to know if you are satisfied). After facing significant criticism for this move, HBO backtracked and offered subscribers the chance to use the service until the end of this month without a longer commitment—but only those subscribers who also signed up for the HBO Nordic newsletter. Classy.

It’s no real surprise that HBO’s first attempt at a standalone online offering is a disaster. HBO approaches the internet with extreme trepidation, but revolution requires gusto. Digital distribution—especially when it comes to competing with piracy—is a go big or go home endeavor. Or… go halfway, and watch your customers go elsewhere.

Filed Under: denmark, digital, finland, norway, sweden, television
Companies: hbo

German Chancellor Says Only Print Media Can Teach You 'Real' Reading

Culture

from the smelly-logic dept

Angela Merkel may be Germany’s Chancellor, and therefore a busy woman, but since she trained as a chemist, you might expect her to have a more positive view about new technology than this statement from a recent interview (original video in German), reported by the Netzpolitik blog, would suggest:

What’s strange here is that the vast majority of those newspapers and magazines publish all or most of their articles online as well as in printed versions. The words are identical, so what magic ingredient does Frau Merkel think is missing online? It can’t be the readability, since digital versions are arguably more legible, thanks to the ability to change the print size for those whose eyesight is not what it was.

The only real difference is that online versions are insubstantial, simply an image on a screen, while printed versions consist of ink on paper. Maybe her comment does, in fact, reflect her past as a chemist, and what she secretly misses is that characteristic odor of printing inks. Perhaps she just needs a iSmell Personal Scent Synthesizer device or equivalent.

Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and on Google+

Filed Under: angela merkel, digital, germany, reading

Spotting Counterfeit Chips Is Hard; Spotting Digital Piracy Is Even Harder

Copyright

from the harder-than-it-looks dept

One of the favorite techniques of those pushing for ever-more severe penalties for copyright infringement is to blur the distinction between analog counterfeits and digital copies. The argument then becomes: “counterfeit drugs can kill people, therefore we must come down hard on online filesharing.” This trick can be seen most clearly in ACTA, which stands for “Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement”, but where the most problematic sections concern digital piracy, not counterfeits.

That false equivalence between counterfeits and digital copies is also employed to give the impression that since cheap knock-offs are pretty obvious, it’s easy to tell the difference between a legal digital file, and one that is unauthorised. However, unauthorised digital files are generally exact copies of authorised ones, making it impossible to tell them apart. What counts is whether the distribution is authorized, and there are all kinds of legal considerations like fair use or Creative Commons licensing that can make it very hard to tell without detailed legal scrutiny in a court.

Even the assumption that physical copies are relatively easy to spot is dubious, as this fascinating essay from Andrew ‘bunnie’ Huang about counterfeit chips in military hardware explains. Here’s the background:

Huang then runs through the myriad ways in which counterfeits can be produced ? and why spotting them is hard.

Alongside “trivial external mimicry” ? authentic-looking but empty packages ? he mentions the following: refurbished parts (authentic parts recovered from e-waste); rebinned parts (authentic but with markings changed to a higher specification); ghost-shift parts (produced in the official factory by employees, but unofficially); factory scrap (rejects and pilot runs recovered from the scrap heap); and second-sourcing gone bad (pin-compatible replacements produced by competitors remarked as superior brands.)

As Huang points out:

Indeed; and much the same could be said about asking local enforcement authorities or ISPs to detect whether digital copies are legal or not. It’s yet another reason why ACTA is likely to have a chilling effect on the legitimate use of copyright materials online, and to throttle the next generation of digital innovation as a result.

Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and on Google+

Filed Under: acta, conflation, counterfeits, digital, piracy

Pete Townshend Calls iTunes A Digital Vampire; Talkin' 'Bout His Generation…

Say That Again

from the talkin'-bout-my-generation dept

When he was 20 years old, Pete Townshend of The Who wrote the classic line “hope I die before I get old,” as part of the anthem Talkin’ ’bout my generation. As a Townshend fan, I’m certainly happy to know that he didn’t die before he got old… but it does seem rather ironic that he’s now acting just like the “old folks” that he once mocked. At an event earlier this week, he claimed that the internet is destroying copyright, and declared that iTunes is a “digital vampire.” His complaint there is that it takes an “enormous commission.” Um. Ok. So, according to most reports, iTunes’ commission on music is approximately $0.30 on the dollar. While some may claim that’s high, compare that to how much a record label takes on each sale, where artists often get perhaps 10 to 15% royalties, with the label taking the rest. Which one seems more like a vampire?

He says that iTunes should employ A&R people, but why is that Apple’s business? That’s like saying Tower Records should have had A&R people to guide musicians a decade ago. It appears his complaint is that new musicians are allowed into iTunes even if they suck. But that’s an issue for filters and mentors to deal with, and the internet seems to be taking care of that. Is there bad music on iTunes? Sure, but you can get around that by not listening to it, and those musicians can get guidance from all sorts of people. He also talks about why Apple should give away computers to 500 musicians they like. But… why? What is focusing on just a few musicians going to do? The power of the internet is that it empowers tons of new musicians. Having Apple give free computers to the musician it likes kinda misses the point of the democratization of the market. It will leave out all sorts of wonderful artists that niche groups in the public might like.

He then goes on to complain that Apple won’t stream full albums. Why is that Apple’s job? Has no one shown Pete Spotify or any of the many other streaming players out there these days?

Of course, he won’t listen to me on this, because he talks about the “vilest” parts of “blogland” where people are “drunk, or just nuts.”

And, of course, he goes on a bit of a rant about file sharing. Beyond just the internet “destroying copyright,” he compares someone downloading one of his songs to someone coming into his house and stealing his kid’s bike (interesting comparison). Of course, as anyone who’s ever thought about this for more than a second knows, making a copy doesn’t remove anything. Making comparisons to stolen physical goods just makes it look like you’re… well… not talking about our generation. So, as a retort, I’ll just “infringe” on Mr. Townshend’s own words:

People try to put us d-down (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)
Just because we get around (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)
Things they do look awful c-c-cold (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)
I hope I die before I get old (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)

This is my generation
This is my generation, baby

Why don’t you all f-fade away (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)
And don’t try to dig what we all s-s-say (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)
I’m not trying to cause a big s-s-sensation (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)
I’m just talkin’ ’bout my g-g-g-generation (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)

Filed Under: a&r, copyright, digital, internet, itunes, pete towhshend
Companies: apple

Toughest Job In All Of Showbiz? Trying To Teach Major Record Labels How To Adapt

Music Industry

from the great-way-to-get-fired dept

Want to know what the toughest gig in show business might be? Perhaps it’s teaching the major record labels how to adapt to new technologies from within. Digital Music News has a list of 34 former execs at the various major labels, whose role it was to help get those companies up to speed on new technologies and new media — all of which were “pushed, fired, or otherwise jumped ship over just the past few years.” While the stories behind what happened to the different individuals may be different, from those on the list who I’m familiar with, there’s a common refrain: the label they worked for had no real interest in embracing what the technology allowed. They hired these execs because they thought that just hiring such people would fix their problems, but then they generally didn’t like what they were hearing… which is why they all ended up moving on.

Filed Under: adapt, digital, execs, music, new media, record labels

EMI Dumps ASCAP For Digital Licensing

Music Industry

from the ouch dept

Well, this is interesting. When Guy Hands had bought EMI years back, there was hope that, as an outsider, he might come in and shake things up in a good way. That didn’t happen, and after a massive flop, Hands lost EMI to Citigroup earlier this year. And, yet, now it appears that EMI is finally making some interesting moves. First up: it’s pulling back its digital rights from ASCAP and is going to license them directly. That’s a huge hit to ASCAP (who will undoubtedly downplay the significance, though it really is huge). This also should ease the licensing of EMI’s catalog, since it’s all going through a single company, rather than having to involve multiple companies. I wouldn’t be surprised to see others go in this direction as well. Of course, some musicians might not like it, as ASCAP tends to be a bit clearer in its royalty statements than many of the labels, but this is a big potential issue for ASCAP.

Filed Under: digital, licensing, music, publishing, rights
Companies: ascap, emi